Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the armed St. Louis couple who confronted Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home last year, expressed support for Kyle Rittenhouse on Monday as closing arguments in his trial wrapped up.

Fox News interviewed the couple minutes from the Kenosha County Courthouse where Rittenhouse faces homicide charges after he shot three people, killing two, while he was lying prone in the street being beaten by several attackers in the middle of a riot in August 2020. Rittenhouse and his attorneys have maintained that he was acting in self-defense.

“We feel for Mr. Rittenhouse,” Mark McCloskey told Fox News. “We feel he acted in self-defense.”

“We think he’s been politically prosecuted, as were we, and we’re hoping that the jury find him not guilty on all counts and that he can go home a free man,” he added.

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Mark McCloskey stood on the lawn of their home screaming and pointing a semiautomatic rifle at protesters. His wife then joined him with a semiautomatic handgun, yelling at protesters to “go” and pointing it at them. No shots were fired.

Many have defended the McCloskeys, saying they were legally protecting their $1.15 million house. The couple heard a loud commotion and saw a large group of people break an iron gate marked with “No Trespassing” and “Private Street” signs, according to a police report.

Missouri governor Mike Parson pardoned the McCloskeys in August after Mark McCloskey pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750, while Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000.

McCloskey told Fox News that Rittenhouse is a “young man” who was “doing the best he could to help his country and to save businesses up here in Kenosha, and as his reward, he’s having the rest of his life threatened.”

McCloskey said he had traveled to Kenosha to show support but that he did not want to cause any distractions from the case.

“I’m not going to show up to the courthouse until the jury is out so that we don’t get accused of interfering in any way of the results,” he said.

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